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Indian Mound Cemetery
|type = Private |owner = Indian Mound Cemetery Association, Inc. |graves= |website = |findagrave = Indian Mound Cemetery |political = Indian Mound Cemetery }} Indian Mound Cemetery is a cemetery located along the Northwestern Turnpike (U.S. Route 50) on a promontory of the "Yellow Banks" overlooking the South Branch Potomac River and Mill Creek Mountain in Romney, West Virginia, United States. The cemetery is centered around a Hopewellian mound, known as the Romney Indian Mound. Indian Mound Cemetery is also the site of Fort Pearsall, the First Confederate Memorial, Parsons Bell Tower, and reinterments from Romney's Old Presbyterian Cemetery. The cemetery is currently owned and maintained by the Indian Mound Cemetery Association, Inc. Indian Mound Cemetery is the burial site of two governors of West Virginia, a United States House Representative, a United States Secretary of the Army, an owner of the Washington Redskins, and descendants of the family of George Washington. History Romney Indian Mound Physical description The Romney Indian Mound measures in height and approximately in diameter. It is the largest of the remaining mounds discovered in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle. The Romney Indian Mound is representative of thousands of small Middle and Late Woodland burial mounds that occurred throughout much of eastern North America. Throughout its history, the Romney Indian Mound has traditionally been covered in pine trees, of which several remain as of 2010. Origins The Romney Indian Mound was constructed at what was once the crossroads of the Shawnee Trail, running north and south, and the east-west Indian Road (later the Northwestern Turnpike and U.S. Route 50) leading to the Allegheny Mountains. The original owner of the mound, David Gibson, gave the site to the city of Romney on the condition that the mound would not be disturbed. For this reason, the city has never allowed the mound to be excavated. The Smithsonian Institution suggests the Romney Indian Mound possibly dates from between 500 and 1000 CE given the ages of similar mounds it excavated in the Eastern Panhandle. The mound was likely constructed by peoples of the Hopewell culture. The Romney Indian Mound is perhaps the only accessible mound east of the Allegheny Mountains that has been preserved. This is mostly due in part to both its location high above the flood plain of the South Branch Potomac River and that it was never plowed over. Indian Mound Cemetery Company and Association Several years prior to the onset of the American Civil War, Romney's Old Presbyterian Cemetery at Gravel Lane and High Street had become full and the city of Romney sought to procure a larger tract for a new spacious cemetery. Indian Mound Cemetery was incorporated by an act of the Virginia General Assembly around 1859. The land was conveyed to the Indian Mound Cemetery Company by David Gibson on 31 May 1860. The land conveyed by Gibson had previously been a tract of his nearby Sycamore Dale plantation. The cemetery's original design consisted of two plats: the higher plat around the Romney Indian Mound and the lower plat above Sulphur Spring Run reserved for the burials of African Americans. The latter separated from Indian Mound Cemetery and became known as the Mount Pisgah Benevolence Cemetery, which is currently maintained by the Mount Pisgah United Methodist Church. On 22 May 1869, a meeting was held at the Hampshire County Courthouse to elect a board of directors of the Indian Mound Cemetery Company. The company operated the cemetery until it was incorporated by the state of West Virginia on 25 August 1925 as the Indian Mound Cemetery Association, Inc. The association has been administered by a self-perpetuating board of directors since 1925. On 6 October 1925, an additional five acres to the north were purchased by the Indian Mound Cemetery Association, Inc. from Hiram C. and Katie Feidner Cooper. American Civil War |thumb|right]] Battle of Romney Due to its strategic location on a bluff commanding views of the South Branch Potomac River, the Romney Covered Bridge, and the Northwestern Turnpike for half a mile, Indian Mound Cemetery was an important lookout position during the American Civil War. On 22 October 1861, Union Army General Scott ordered General Benjamin Franklin Kelley to concentrate his forces at New Creek (now known as Keyser) and attack and capture Romney. Kelley left New Creek early on the morning of 27 October and the Confederate States Army at Romney began preparations for his arrival. The Confederates planted a twelve-pound rifle cannon and a mountain howitzer in Indian Mound Cemetery ready to fire at the lead of the Union Army column as it emerged from Mechanicsburg Gap in Mill Creek Mountain. The Union forces drove in and advanced to Indian Mound Cemetery where the Confederate forces made a stand and opened fire on the Federals with the twelve-pound rifle cannon and the mountain howitzer. A severe cannonade took place between the artillery of both the Union and Confederate forces for an hour. Burials Also during the American Civil War, Indian Mound Cemetery was used as a burial ground by both Union and Confederate armies. The majority of soldiers killed in the vicinity of Romney were buried in blankets in the cemetery, many whose names are unknown. Captain Richard Ashby, the brother of Confederate General Turner Ashby, was interred with all the honors of war under a giant oak tree on 4 July 1861 in Indian Mound Cemetery shortly after his death at nearby Washington Bottom Farm on 3 July from wounds received in a skirmish on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Turner Ashby attended his brother's funeral at Indian Mound Cemetery where his behavior was described in Edward A. Pollard's Southern History of the War as touching: Ashby's body was removed from the cemetery to Stonewall Cemetery in Winchester, Virginia in October 1862 where it was reinterred next to Ashby's brother General Turner Ashby. Their grave is marked "The Brothers Ashby." First Confederate Memorial The First Confederate Memorial was erected by local ladies in honor of Hampshire County's Confederate dead and dedicated in Indian Mound Cemetery on 26 September 1867. It is considered one of the oldest, if not the first, permanent memorials to Confederate dead in the United States. Notable people interred at Indian Mound Cemetery and his wife Edna Brady Cornwell]] *Stephen Ailes (1912–2001), United States Secretary of the Army *William Armstrong (1782–1865), United States House Representative from Virginia *John Rinehart Blue (1905–1965), West Virginia House Delegate from Hampshire County *Edna Brady Cornwell (1868–1958), First Lady of West Virginia *John Jacob Cornwell (1867–1953), 15th Governor of West Virginia *Marshall S. Cornwell (1871–1898), newspaper editor and publisher, poet, and author *Dr. William Henry Foote (1794–1869), Presbyterian clergyman and historian *John Jeremiah Jacob (1757–1839), first ordained Methodist minister in Hampshire County *John Jeremiah Jacob (1829–1893), 4th Governor of West Virginia *George Preston Marshall (1896–1969), owner and president of the Washington Redskins *Gilbert Proctor Miller (1866–1927), orchardist; founder of Hampshire County's fruit industry *George William Washington (1809–1876), gentleman farmer and diarist Image gallery File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2010 04 25 02.JPG|Iron fence at the entrance File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2010 04 25 04.JPG|Entrance gate and Parsons Bell Tower File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2010 04 25 05.JPG|Parsons Bell Tower File:Parsons Bell Tower Romney WV 2005 9 16 01.JPG|Parsons Bell Tower File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2010 04 25 06.JPG|Caretaker's residence File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2005 9 16 03.JPG|Romney Indian Mound File:IndianMoundCemetery1942RomneyWV.jpg|Indian Mound Cemetery and U.S. Route 50 in 1942 File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2010 04 25 07.JPG|Unknown Confederate graves File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2005 9 16 04.JPG|Gravestones at Indian Mound Cemetery File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2010 04 25 26.JPG|First Confederate Memorial File:First Confederate Memorial Romney WV 2005 9 16 02.JPG|First Confederate Memorial detail File:Fort Pearsall Marker Romney WV 2005 9 16 01.JPG|Old Fort Pearsall historical marker File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2010 04 25 11.JPG|New Fort Pearsall historical marker File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2010 04 25 14.JPG|Washington family plot File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2010 04 25 20.JPG|Grave of Gilbert Proctor Miller, founder of Hampshire County's fruit industry File:Indian Mound Cemetery Romney WV 2010 04 25 13.JPG|View of Mill Creek Mountain and the South Branch Potomac River See also * List of Hopewell sites * List of historic sites in Hampshire County, West Virginia * Mount Pisgah Benevolence Cemetery External links *Indian Mound Cemetery Inventory *WVGenWeb Indian Mound Cemetery Page References Category:1859 establishments Category:Hopewellian peoples Category:Mounds of West Virginia Category:Hampshire County, West Virginia Category:Northwestern Turnpike Category:Indian Mound Cemetery Category:Hampshire County, West Virginia in the American Civil War Category:Archaeological sites in West Virginia